Katrina Emergency Services Personnel Founder: Bobby E. Smith, Ph.D. I would like to introduce myself and the FORTE Foundation. FORTE was established in 2001 for Louisiana’s Law Enforcement Officers and their families to provide training and counseling services. I speak internationally on dealing with the aftermath of trauma and I have authored two books. My first book is titled Visions of Courage: the Bobby Smith Story and the second book is The Will to Survive: A Mental and Emotional Guide for Law Enforcement Professionals and the People Who Love Them. I know firsthand the horrors of traumatic, psychological stress. In 1986, as a Louisiana State Trooper, I suffered a shotgun blast to the face by a drug dealer and was left permanently blind. Since then, I have obtained my masters degree in education and a doctorate in Counseling/Psychology. In 2008, Lt. Colonel Mike Edmonson, Superintendent of Louisiana State Police and Deputy Secretary to the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, asked me if I would return to the Louisiana State Police to oversee the Troopers Assistance and Chaplaincy Program. I have dedicated my life to the training and peer counseling of law enforcement officers. To learn more about my international training seminars, please visit www.visionsofcourage.com. Lastly, I would like to share some devastating statistics that depict the frightening reality of cop distress. On average, one law enforcement officer is killed in America every 53 hours. Studies show that domestic violence occurs in up to 40 percent of law enforcement marriages- more than twice the national average for couples- and is common in the background of cops who kill themselves. Every year for the past 10 years, an average of 164 police officers have died in the line of duty in the United States, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. This year alone approxmiately 18,000 law enforcement officers will leave their jobs as a result of the stress, both physical and emotional, that they deal with every day. The need has never been greater than now to offer a solution to the growing epidemic of traumatic stress related issues. Sincerely, Bobby E. Smith, Ph.D. President and Chairman of the Board Trooper Bobby Smith, 1983  National/International motivational speaker and trainer focusing on dealing with the aftermath of trauma; see www.visionsofcourage.com for more information  11 year police veteran  Retired LA State Trooper shot in the face and blinded by a drug dealer, 1986  Ph.D. Counseling/Psychology; Masters of Education, emphasis in Exercise Physiology  Crisis Negotiator  Critical Incident Stress Debriefer  Author of “Visions of Courage” and “The Will to Survive”  Commissioned Police Chaplain  Founder & President of FORTE (Foundation for Officers Recovering from Traumatic Events)  Police Peer Counselor  Military Order of the Purple Heart National Law Enforcement Citation, 1988  Kiwanis International “Lawman of the Year”, 1984, and U.S. Trooper of the Year, 1987